It's A Great Day

July 30, 2004
2 Whitney Museum Employees Arrested in Embezzlement Case
By ROBIN POGREBIN

Two employees of the Whitney Museum of American Art stole nearly $900,000 from the museum by voiding ticket sales and keeping the proceeds, the Manhattan district attorney charged yesterday.

Naseem Wahlah, the museum's manager of visitor services, was accused of stealing nearly $850,000 and Rowan Foley, who worked for Ms. Wahlah, was accused of stealing $30,000, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The thefts occurred between January 2002 and this month, the indictment said. The museum handles as much as $20,000 in cash daily in ticket sales, the prosecutor said.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, according to the office of the district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau. A man who answered the phone at the Wahlah residence in Brooklyn said that Ms. Wahlah refused to comment.

Mr. Foley's home number in Queens had been disconnected.

The museum said that the two had been fired, and that methods for handling money had been strengthened.

"Despite this theft the Whitney is in excellent financial health," the museum said in a statement, adding that a balanced budget was projected for the current fiscal year.

The investigation began after Mr. Foley told museum officials that he suspected his boss, Ms. Wahlah, was stealing from the museum. After conducting an audit, the Whitney discovered a large number of voided ticket sales. The museum then hired a private investigations company, Safir Rosetti, which in June installed hidden cameras behind the ticket counter and in the office where ticket sales and cash were reconciled.

The defendants were videotaped erasing ticket sales at their computers and at the computers of other department employees, Mr. Morgenthau said. The tape also captured Ms. Wahlah stuffing cash into her purse and Mr. Foley putting cash in his pocket, the prosecutor's office said.

The museum confronted the defendants and tried to recover the money, the district attorney's office said. Mr. Foley had already spent his. Ms. Wahlah had kept her cash at home in a safe. "She was saving it for retirement,'' Mr. Morgenthau said. "We've got other plans for her.''

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

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